As anger rose like a stench inside of him, he feared what was on the other side of this emptiness. He wasn’t like other males, never had been, and not just because of the Mommie Dearest deity crap: Knowing his luck, he’d be the one bonded male on the face of the planet who got past these purposeless numbs at losing his shellan. . and went somewhere oh, so much darker.
Insanity, for instance.
Wait, he wouldn’t be the first, would he. Murhder had gone mad. Absolutely and irrevocably.
Maybe they could start a club. And the handshake could involve daggers.
Emo-ass motherfuckers that they were—
With a snarl, V pivoted in the direction of the prevailing wind, and he would have offered up a prayer of thanks if he didn’t hate his mother so much: In and among the tendrils of fog, riding upon the vapors of gray and white humidity, the sweet smell of the enemy gave him purpose and a definition that his numb state had not just lacked, but seemed likely to reject.
His feet started to walk and then jog and then run. And the faster he went, the better he felt: To be a soulless killer was far, far, far better than to be a breathing void. He wanted to maim and murder; he wanted to tear with his fangs and claw with his hands; he wanted the blood of slayers on him and in him.
He wanted the screams of those he killed to ring in his ears.
Following the sickly stench, he cut over into the streets and weaved in and out of alleys and straightaways, tracking the scent as it grew stronger and stronger. And the closer he got, the more relieved he became. There had to be a number of them — and even better news? No sign of his brothers, which meant first come. . first served.
He was saving this for himself.
Rounding the last corner of the quest, he plowed into a short, squat stretch of urban armpit and skidded to a halt. The alley had no outlet on the other side, but like a chute system for livestock, the buildings on either side were directing the wind that came off the river outward, the herd of molecules scrambling and picking up the smells on their hooves and galloping it straight into his sinuses.
What. . the. . hell. .?
The stench was so strong, his nose filed relocation papers — but there weren’t a bunch of those pale-ass fools standing around, stroking each other’s knives. The place was empty.
Except then he noticed the sound of dripping. As if a faucet hadn’t been quite turned off.
After throwing up some mhis, he pulled his glove free of his glowing hand and used his palm to light the way. Walking forward, the illumination formed a shallow pool of clear-and-visi right in front of him, and the first thing he came to was a boot. . which was attached to a camo’d calf. . and a thigh and hip. .
That was it.
The slayer’s body had been cut in half, sure as if it had been deli sliced, the cross section leaking portions of the intestinal tract, the stump of the spine showing bright white in and among all the greasy black.
A resonant scratching drew him over to the right.
This time he saw a hand first. . a pale hand that was digging its nails into the damp asphalt and retracting like it was trying to hoe up the ground.
The lesser was just torso, but it was still alive — although that wasn’t a miracle; it was how they worked: Until you stabbed them through the heart with something that was made of steel, they hung around, no matter what state their bodies were in.
As V slowly moved his palm-light upward, he got a load of the thing’s face. Its mouth was stretching wide, the tongue clicking as if it were trying to speak. Typical of the current crop of killers, this one was a new recruit, his dark skin and hair having yet to turn floury white.
V stepped over the bastard and kept going. A couple of yards over, he found the two halves of a second one.
As the back of his neck went ants-all-over in warning, he passed his glowing hand around, moving outward from the bodies in a concentric circle.
Well, well, well. . wasn’t this a blast from the past.
And so not in a good way.
Back at the Brotherhood’s compound, Payne lay in her bed, waiting.
She was not good at patience at the best of times, and she felt as though ten years passed before her healer finally came back to her. When he did, he brought with him a thin booklike panel.
As he sat down on the bed, there was tension in his strong, handsome face. «Sorry that took so long. Jane and I were firing up this laptop.»
She had no clue what that meant. «Just tell me whatever there is to say.»
With quick, nimble hands, he opened the top half of the contraption. «Actually, you need to see it for yourself.»
Feeling as though she wanted to curse loud and often, she dragged her eyes to the screen. Immediately, she recognized the image of the room she was in. This was from before, however, because as she lay on the bed, she was staring at the bathroom. The frame was frozen like a picture, but then a little white arrow moved when he touched something and the picture became animated.
With a frown, she focused on herself. She was glowing: Any piece of flesh that showed was illuminated from within. Why ever was that—
First she sat up from the pillow, her neck craned so that she could spy on her healer. More leaning to the side. And then maneuvering downward upon the bed. .
«I sat upright,» she breathed. «Onto my knees!»
Indeed, her luminescent form had raised itself up perfectly and hovered with precise balance as she watched him in the shower.
«You most certainly did,» he said.
«I am aglow as well. Why is that, though?»
«We were hoping you could tell us. You ever do that before?»
«Not that I was aware of. But I have been imprisoned for so long, I feel as though I know not myself.» The file stopped. «Do play it again?»
When her healer didn’t reply, and the pictures didn’t renew their action, she glanced over at him — only to recoil. His face was showing a thunderous rage, the anger so deep, his eyes were nearly black.
«Imprisoned how?» he demanded. «And by who?»
Strange, she thought dimly. She’d always been told humans were a far milder form of creature than vampires. But her healer’s protective response was every bit as deadly as that of her own species.
Unless, of course, it wasn’t about protection. It was entirely possible that her having been jailed was not attractive to him.
And who could blame him?
«Payne?»
«Ah. . Forgive me, healer — perhaps my word choice is incorrect, as English is a second language to me? I have been under my mother’s care.»
It was nearly impossible to keep the distaste from her voice, but the camouflage must have worked, because the tension left him completely as he released his breath. «Oh, okay. Yeah, that word does not mean what you think it does.»
Indeed, humans as well had standards for behavior, did they not: His relief was as great as his tension had been. But then, it was not wrong to look for morality and decency in females — or males.
As he replayed the pictures for her, she shifted her focus to the miracle that had happened. . and found herself shaking her head at what she saw. «Truly, I was unaware. How is. . this possible?»